Hey there…my name is Jon Sexton…and I’m passionate about people. What do I mean by that? I thrive on working with folks to help them realize their true potential, whether that’s through helping them build confidence, explore new educational or career opportunities, or learn how to tap into their strengths to realize untapped potential in a given role. One of the ways I do this is through using the framework of the Clifton StrengthsFinder. This approach won me over through the simple words of Donald Clifton, founder of the StrengthsFinder Assessment:

“What would happen if we studied what is right with people versus what is wrong with people?”

I challenge you to think about that quote for a few minutes. I would argue that we live in a deficit oriented society, one in which we’re constantly inundated with messages about how we should be more “well rounded” and seek ways to improve ourselves. That’s fantastic in theory, but how much time do we waste investing in building skills that simply are aligned with our natural skill set. What if instead we truly honed and focused on our natural talents? Some of the most successful professionals I know do just that…they play to their strengths seeking opportunities to work with individuals who have significantly different skill sets than their own.

From a career development perspective this approach is powerful in that it focuses on tapping into your natural interests. In addition it focuses on investing in activities that bring you energy versus draining it from you. There is benefit in building your natural talents as it allows you to develop the ability to tap into them in a strategic manner to achieve the things you naturally want to do. When we fail to invest in talent…it may go untapped, unrealized, or left undeveloped. Imagine if someone had convinced John Lennon or Paul McCartney at a young age that playing guitar was a waste a time and that they should invest time into more “serious” pursuits.

Even when we know our talents, we must be willing to work on developing them. Raw talent has the tendency drive our behavior in undesirable ways. Let’s use the metaphor of taming an animal as an example. Say you want to tame a horse, to the point where you’re able to ride it between two locations that are several miles or kilometers apart. Do a half hearted job and you’ll likely have an animal that will either buck you off, or will fight you on where you want it to go. Like undeveloped talent, there is untapped potential in that horse, but until you’ve properly tamed it, it’s going to try to lead you where it wants to go…and perhaps even accidently harm you as a result of that struggle. Properly train the animal and all of a sudden you’ve harnessed a resource that can help you in a wide variety of ways.

The benefits of taking a Strengths based approach to your work or professional development are abundant. Consider the following: [Read more…]

There are a few elements of the interview process that can make or break your chances of getting a job and the question of what to wear to an interview should be approached with as much importance as any of the other elements. I’ve interviewed hundreds and possibly thousands of prospects for a variety of different jobs and it was usual that before the candidate has opened their mouth that I’ve already started to make my judgements having looked at what they’re wearing . One wise career consultant once said to me ‘your interview begins in the car park’ so don’t for one minute think that just because you are sitting in the waiting area, that you’re not being judged. You can contact me to talk more about your interview strategy

Demonstrate you’ve done your research

Think about it, it’s not difficult to find out what to wear so this part of the interview assessment process is really a quick win for you because you can ‘score’ immediate points. If you’ve gone to the lengths of finding out what to wear to your interview it demonstrates to the interviewer that you made a real effort and put in some research in order to know how to dress appropriately. It also shows that you are able to adapt to your surroundings but bear this in mind, if you don’t feel comfortable in what you are wearing and the organisation’s culture of dress, then ask yourself, ‘will you feel comfortable working there in the long term?’ Now as I said, I used to make my judgements on the interviewee before they’d opened their mouth and any interviewer worth their salt will look to see how you are dressed and use that as part of the assessment criteria. If you don’t look comfortable – for whatever reason – the interviewer is likely to detect that as well.

Don’t over dress, don’t under dress

If you can find a way of blending in and dressing appropriately the interviewer consciously or subconsciously begins to [Read more…]

When was the last time you sent an interview thank you email? Did you even think about or know that sending a interview thank you email is part and parcel of the interview process and unless you have been told (either in writing or otherwise) that you are not supposed to make contact with the employer, then you should send a

thank you email after each and every interview? The fact that you’ve not sent a thank you email -within 12 to 24 hours- to interviewers from your previous interviews could be part of the reason someone else got the job.

Before we go on let me just point out that there are a number of different versions of covering emails to send after an interview. Each email should be tailored to suit the individual and employer so I’ve given you – below -some key areas that you can include in yours.

Today I’m going to talk about an interview thank you email sent after your interview. [Read more…]

A word of warning, you need to do your own job search to achieve the career you desire. Job search sites are a key component of your success…

The best job search sites can be split into three categories, those that belong to employers, independent job boards (which are either niche, generalist or part of social media sites like Facebook or linked in) and job aggregators/search engines that act as a hub of job vacancies across the Internet.

As ever, you should not rely on one or two sources of jobs over another and should use a combination of sources for your job search. You should always try to establish your own network of contacts with hiring managers so that you can contact them directly and bypass human resources and internal recruiters.

You should also prioritise and weight your efforts and resources into seeking out opportunities that are managed by direct employers (and not recruitment consultants) which may or may not be advertised (hidden jobs). The first places you might look to find the best job search sites is corporate websites and careers sites, a great deal of your effort should be focused on contacting direct employers whether or not they are advertising jobs.

The best job search tool is you!

Employers and recruitment consultants often deliberately choose to [Read more…]

OK, so have you ever been in a situation where you’ve sent your application to a recruiter or employer via email and not heard back.It is very frustrating!

One big reason recruiters and employers might not be responding to your CV or application is because you’re not including a cover email.

But do you know how to write a covering email that creates an impact and prompts the employer to pick up the phone (or at the very least reply to your message)?You’re duty-bound to produce excellent, error-free copy that sells your relevant skills, qualities and achievements.So whatever you do, don’t make simple mistakes that could potentially lead the employer to question your ability.

Before we go on let me just point out that there are a variety of types of covering emails.These include speculative covering emails, interview confirmation covering emails and post-interview covering emails.

However, here I’m going to talk about a general covering email sent as part of an initial job application.Bear in the mind that each job application may have specific instructions for the application process, so it’s important to understand exactly what’s required – and comply – before you hit send.

Here are a few things you need to be conscious of when producing your covering email.

Address it to a real person

There’s nothing worse than receiving an impersonal ‘To Whom It May Concern’ job application.Then there are those that are sent for the attention of the ‘Recruitment Manager’ even if no such person exists!Worse still, I’ve received countless ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ email applications from seemingly desperate applicants who use a one-size fits all approach, and send as many of the same covering email as possible. It should be your aim to make a great first impression, so spend some time researching the name of the person dealing with the applications.Address the covering email to a real person to help your application stand out from the others.That way you can begin to develop a relationship with a new contact who you can phone to check your email has been received.

No spelling errors or punctuation issue, full stop!

A great email cover letter needs to have good grammar and spelling skills, that goes without saying!So if your application has obvious errors then you’ll probably make it easier for the hiring manager to disqualify you because you’ll appear clumsy and unprofessional.It’s really important to build a reputation as someone who pays attention to detail, and your covering email provides a massive opportunity to do just that. So – whatever you do – don’t forget to check the e-mail before you send it and if necessary, get a second opinion.

Keep it brief

When you write your covering e-mail it’s important to empathise with the recipient.Remember they’re probably really busy sifting though reams of applications as well as doing their day-to-day duties.You should aim to make it as easy as possible for them to read your e-mail quickly by keeping the message brief, relevant and to the point – 150 to 200 words should suffice.

Format the covering e-mail in such a way that makes it easy for the reader to see what they’re looking for and quickly absorb important details. Break the e-mail up into three succinct sections:

• Your desire to do the job, where you saw the advert and include any job reference details

• Refers to your most relevant skills and ideally, at least one relevant achievement

• Close with a positive call to action and reiterate your desire to do the job

It’s not a letter

A covering e-mail or letter both have a formal tone and convey a similar message.Having said that, a covering email is usually much shorter in length than a letter.There are one or two things that you should avoid in the covering email.

Don’t use address columns. That will only add to the length and take the focus away from the main content.There is no need for a reference line in the body of the email message, because you should make reference to the job in the subject box of the e-mail. Your covering e-mail should be shorter than a letter. This will allow the reader to absorb the message very quickly from their desktop or on-the-fly using their mobile device.

It’s acceptable to sign off an email with ‘Regards’ or ‘Kind Regards’, whereas a cover letter usually requires you to sign off using ‘Yours Sincerely’. Oh and don’t forget to put an e-mail signature – containing your phone numbers – to enable the reader to easily and quickly call you if needed.

Don’t let your email get ‘lost’ in their inbox, use a reference number

Here’s one that’s really easy to implement: put the job reference details in a place that makes it easy for the reader to see, and helps distinguish your message from the other emails in their inbox.I recommend [Read more…]

Have you have been made redundant or lost your job, or just been in a situation where you need to find a job as soon as possible? Whichever of those situations that you might have been in I’m sure you will understand the pressures that come to the forefront of your mind particular because you’ve got bills to pay or you have a family to support. Or both!

I remember being made redundant at around the time of the financial crisis and although it did really hit my confidence for a long time, it also made me think what next, I knew that I had to get straight back on the horse as soon as possible. Not least because I had a mortgage to pay and other bills to boot. But I was not ready just to accept any other job and my training in recruitment meant that I had the tools and wherewithal to pull myself through.

I knew that I could write a good CV and tailor it to each opportunity that suited my skills in fact during my early professional career – before I got into recruitment – my job applications had been all about my CV and spent all my time and effort getting it right.I neglected the other vital touch points and tactics or didn’t put as much effort into getting them right.

Think Poisitive by Remembering Achievements

One of the first things I did was to try to relax my mind and have some thinking time to myself, but it was time well spent because the purpose was to really think about what I had achieved over the preceding years.

And I didn’t do this just to massage my ego, well, maybe just a little bit because it was much needed. I was at a low ebb and I needed to remind myself how good I was at my job and how valuable I am in terms of skill that I have to offer future employers. So I got my CV in front of me and I began to look through all the professional roles that I had and for each role I cast my mind back to think about specific tangible achievements.At this point I didn’t discriminate I just noted down as many achievements and positive outcomes as I could think of (regardless of scale) so it became a brain dump for later refinement.

And it was a massive help to build my spirit and boost my confidence because it helped me to remember pivotal points of my career and milestones that I knew I could build upon and begin to sell to future employers whilst building my career in the direction that I wanted to take it.

And it was around about that time that I thought to myself let me keep a record of my achievements so that if I’m ever in a situation like this again all I need to do is pick up my record of achievement and read it. And to this day I keep a record of my achievements as a running list even though there’s no imminent threat of redundancy or job loss. But at the time of my redundancy I found that the record of achievement was really useful for selecting achievements to slot into my CV and applications.

Don’t rely on recruitment consultants

By the time of my imminent redundancy I had been in the world of recruitment for about four or five years so I knew the inner workings really well. And that put me in good stead because I knew that I could not simply rely on recruitment consultants to find my next job.That’s because recruiters get a limited percentage of the jobs in the market that I was targeting. So I set about making long lists of around 100 or so employers that I wanted to work for with the intention of contacting each and every one of them.

I was also precise and deliberate in terms of the recruiters that I targeted to help me with my job search because I knew I was likely to get better results if I targeted recruiters who were niche specific and worked at a senior level. As opposed to working with generalist recruiters or a very green or junior recruitment consultant who was learning the ropes.

My experience of dealing with jobseekers is that many of them will send in CV after CV and email after email applying to jobs without making the effort to call or enquire about their application. I knew that this was a big mistake because [Read more…]

There’s a certain amount of skill required when it comes to job search and here are four key hard skills that I had put into practice when I was looking for opportunities.

Researching and analysing

Searching for the ideal job is time-consuming but I knew that the more in-depth my research, the more likely I was to find a opportunity that was right for you and I was pretty confident that I didn’t miss out on something that was exciting or suitable. My research included using the Internet, job boards and other internet sites, magazines, newspapers, networking events and my own networks.

And the research continued once I’d secured the job interviews because I was then interested in researching the company and its history. That included researching Google news to find articles and press releases that related to the interview, searching LinkedIn – via Google – to read up on the interviewers [Read more…]

In my opinion adding a photo to your LinkedIn profile is not a prerequisite for a good profile because the emphasis should be on your skills and not the way you look. I found it useful to add a photo to help me stand out but rather than just add the first picture that I came across I wanted to add something that looked presentable, clear and professional. So if you don’t have a picture that fulfils each of these criteria click the ‘skip’ button and get one done professionally and add it at a later stage.

The biggest advantage of having a picture is that it will help you to stand out among people with a similar profile who don’t have a picture.

Using social media in the right way (particularly LinkedIn) is a great accompaniment to a professional CV

Writing your CV is not an easy undertaking, and it takes much thought and application to make it stand out from the crowd. Employers aren’t simply interested in seeing a list of things you’ve done in your day-to-day work, nor do they just want a list of your skills. If you simply list your skills and duties, you’re making a huge mistake, because that’s what most job applicants do, and it means that you won’t stand out in any way, shape or form. I can tell you from first-hand experience that it really becomes boring when reading CV after CV if job seekers haven’t made an effort and have presented a CV that is simply a list of things they’ve done. Speaking personally, I used to put such CVs to the bottom of my long list or permanently archive them (if you know what I mean!). Most people involved in CV-sifting are far more ruthless than I am and are likely to confine a ‘duties and skills list’ CV to the bin.

What they really want more than anything is to build a positive picture and see and understand positive results and outcomes from the work you’ve put in. This is because results-orientated people and those who have achieved something are likely to help their business progress and develop, and create a positive working climate. One such way to create a positive tone is to emphasise and talk about your achievements.Many people struggle to ‘sell’ – let alone think of – achievements especially during times when the pressure is really on and I felt that pressure when I lost my job!

Let’s face it, job hunting can be stressful and demanding especially if you’ve lost your job or your role has been made redundant like mine was at around the time of the global financial crisis.But throughout the whole process it’s important to think positive otherwise the negativity will show in your correspondence, CV and ‘follow’ you into the interview room (if you’re able to get that far).

It’s Important to Use Achievements to Create a Positive Impression

No one wants to hire a worker who has seemingly negative traits or has a ‘glass half-full’ perspective on life.

Like it or not, the person reading your CV or online profile will judge you based on its content, so make sure you steer clear of negative words and seemingly negative scenarios. Let me give you a few examples. I’ve seen a number of CVs that state the applicant is a divorcee. Apart from being irrelevant to a job application, it immediately leads the reader to a negative train of thought, because you’ve had a failed marriage.

I’ve also come across CVs that state the applicant’s latest position as ‘Unemployed’. Again, this is a big no no, because it raises the spectre of negativity in the mind of the reader. Let’s face it: there’s no point in reaffirming the fact that you are looking for work or indeed that you are currently out of employment, because the employer is likely to have already worked that out. Another one to steer clear of is the word ‘redundant’, because it prompts all sorts of questions. Your CV is the basis for further discussion, so it’s really up to a quality interviewer to find out why and how you moved between jobs. Do you have a section which states that you have a ‘full clean driving licence’? I recommend removing it, because it raises the question, ‘Did this person commit a misdemeanour at some stage?’

The message here is to stick to positive – and more importantly – relevant details when constructing your CV. Emphasise positive aspects of your career, for example awards, promotions and commendations. Create a positive tone by using the present tense, even when writing about jobs from the past. Professional CV writers use this technique to great effect. Try it for yourself and read it aloud to feel the difference it makes to your CV.

A positive CV, online profile and tone of voice on your correspondence will lead to a positive outcome, so make sure you’re in a positive frame of mind when putting it all together. [Read more…]

How to sell your skills and create a positive tone

I mentioned that highlighting appropriate skills could make the difference between winning and not winning an interview. I mentioned earlier that poorly written CVs tend to be lists of duties and work-based experiences. Most applicants neglect to tell the employer how good they are at what they do, and knowing how important this is, I want to share with you some really effective techniques for describing, evidencing and highlighting your assets so that you sell your skills in writing and really boost your interview prospects.

The first step is to brainstorm and then add action words and verbs to the start of each bulleted statement to help describe what you did in the workplace. Have a look at the list of action words I put together on page 39, and by all means add a few of your own. An action word written in the present tense brings the statement to life and creates a proactive tone. You can see what I mean in the following example.